


Night in Gale

by Bonniehae



Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Romantic Angst, more foreboding, not really angst, the rating is for the f word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:33:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24981619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonniehae/pseuds/Bonniehae
Summary: “…Leo.”Hands working fast and precise movements on the very first buttons of the white shirt.“Yes, Elliot?”Small, ivory circles carefully hand-sewn on the fabric. It’s an elegant shirt for an important event after all. Not a thread out of place.“What is it?”
Relationships: Leo Baskerville/Elliot Nightray
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	Night in Gale

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I just read the whole series again and I felt like we didn't see enough of Elliot and Leo's actual life. So, yeah. Also I like mild suffering. This is supposed to be set right before the events at Isla Yura's, if it wasn't clear. That's all, I hope you'll like it!

“…Leo.”  
  
Hands working fast and precise movements on the very first buttons of the white shirt.  
  
“Yes, Elliot?”  
  
Small, ivory circles carefully hand-sewn on the fabric. It’s an elegant shirt for an important event after all. Not a thread out of place.  
  
“What is it?”  
  
The fingers flinch for a single moment, but they quickly resume their work. It’s enough hesitation to be noticed.  
  
“What is what?”  
  
“You know it.”  
  
Not a moment of hesitation in his gestures, but not an answer either. Some things, he’d rather not answer. Shame, fear. He doesn’t want to. His fingers linger a couple moments too long on a button, savouring the warmth of the skin under the thin fabric. “Nothing you have to worry about.” He has to almost kneel when he gets to the lower buttons, and he uses it as an excuse to avoid the other’s inquiring stare.  
  
“You know we don’t have to go if you don’t feel like it.”  
  
A smile ghosts on his lips as he fastens the last button.  
  
“I’ll just tell him I’m sick.”  
  
“It’s really not necessary.” He gets up again, turning around to the bed to pick up the black coat hanging from the headboard. When he turns back, his eyes are piercing deep into him, and he almost wants to break the gaze but he doesn’t have enough strength to do so. Instead he swallows, trying to hide his discomfort. Elliot isn’t going to turn around to help him, he’s making him go all the way back. “What a fussy master we have tonight,” he comments, bringing himself behind him to help him with the coat. He doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to cooperate.  
  
“If you could be honest…”  
  
“I am being honest,” he answers, solid and confident. With a defeated sigh, Elliot drops his shoulders down to help Leo get the coat on him. He knows those centimetres are an obstacle when he tries to dress him all by himself. Leo makes his way back around to find Elliot looking for his eyes.  
  
“Tell me.”  
  
“I’m just having a rough couple of days.” he admits, straightening the folds of the coat “It’s a splendid ensemble. Did you choose this?”  
  
“It’s new,” Elliot comments, looking down on himself as if he’s also unsure why he’s wearing that.  
  
“Well it’s a special evening,” Leo smiles, closing the first button close to the collar.  
  
“Not that special,” Elliot scoffs, leaning on his right leg.  
  
“Oh but you’re excited about it,” Leo jokes, taking his time to put every button in where it needs to be, slow and silky. He doesn’t want to stop feeling the warmth under his hands. Elliot fidgets for a second before sighing.  
  
“Are you really not going to tell me?”  
  
The hands stop for a moment, staying put on the coat but not clasping buttons anymore. He’s not going to get away easy this time around. He shoots a quick glance upwards, but he regrets it in an instant. He shakes his head and slowly starts buttoning the coat again “I told you. It’s simply an odd time.”  
  
“As if I would accept that as an answer.”  
  
“You don’t have a choice though, do you?” Leo retorts, sharp, digging hard in the thick fabric of the coat as if to leave a mark under it.  
  
“Have I done something to you?”  
  
There’s a strain of desperation in Elliot's voice. No, not even. Impotence, maybe, and it tugs at Leo’s heartstrings more than any other noise in existence. He stops buttoning the coat, keeping his hands steady on Elliot's chest. “No.”  
  
“Then can I help you?”  
  
His hands grasp the velvet. “No.”  
  
Elliot hesitates for a second before moving his hands down to grab Leo’s wrist. Leo flinches, but doesn’t back up, instead he gives a surprised glance at Elliot. He looks ready to fight. “Is it for the things they say in school?”  
  
Leo blinks, confused. Elliot is blushing slightly under his eyes, on the highest parts of his cheekbones, like he thought a lot about how to say what he’s saying.  
“Because I told you I wouldn’t… I don’t care about any of that!”  
  
Leo smiles, and he feels what are almost tears at the corner of his eyes. Seeing the sudden glassiness of his eyes, Elliot tightens his grip on Leo’s hands.  
  
“It’s not that.”  
  
“Has someone done something to you?” he asks, nervous “I won’t tell. But I will teach them a lesson about touching what they shouldn’t…”  
  
“Elliot,” Leo stops him, recognizing the direction Elliot is taking “You won’t have to slaughter anyone. They don’t bother me at all.  
  
Elliot lets go of his hands with a sudden albeit reluctant gesture, and Leo starts closing the buttons again. Since he realized what people said behind his back, Elliot became even more protective of him. Not for a second he even thought about letting him go, and Leo is still dumbfounded at that. Not that he can complain. The coat is almost completely fastened.  
  
“What is it then?” Elliot insists, and Leo sighs.  
  
He deserves an answer, doesn’t he? But he doesn’t have an answer to give him. He presses hard, but the warmth isn’t as close as before, he barely feels it. He closes the last button on his reach and looks up at Elliot. “It’s nothing, believe me.”  
  
“I’ve never seen you like this,” Elliot complains, and he’s starting to get really fussy now, fidgeting and shifting his weigh from one leg to the other. Leo appoints the rope to the pin on Elliot chest, then he looks back and takes the final element of the ensemble Elliot is wearing tonight: an elegant, light-blue satin ribbon of the exact colour of his eyes.  
  
“Am I not allowed to keep secrets from you?” Looking back, he should never have said that.  
  
Elliot flinches hard, backing up and avoiding Leo’s hands. “So there is something!”  
  
Leo tightens his grip on the satin. “I didn’t say that,” he corrects himself “I just asked you, do I have no right to keep secrets?”  
  
“No you don’t!” Elliot answers, louder than he should “You are mine, Leo!”  
  
“I am not yours!”  
  
“I demand to know whatever it is that it’s hurting you!” Elliot almost shouts, and Leo can only hope no one can hear them right now because that would be awkward to explain.  
  
“Keep it down,” he orders, wrapping the ribbon around Elliot’s neck and yanking him forward, trapping him in the satin “What, is it your duty as my master to dust me like a porcelain doll? Fuck that!”  
  
“Are you really-” Elliot starts saying, but he stutters on himself “It’s not that.” From an outsider perspective, this would make no sense. But Leo is too used to Elliot biting his own tongue to not know exactly what he hasn’t said. Elliot swiftly recovers from the misstep. “So you think I don’t deserve to know what’s making you this sad?”  
  
Leo stops, all of his anger frozen in an instant. He blinks hard, golden flickers flashing in front of the otherwise black canvas. He must look sad. Everything is weighing so hard on his shoulders. And Elliot deserves to know. “Do you ever think…” he begins, slow and whispered “That maybe you’re the only sane person in the world, and everyone else is crazy?  
  
The frozen anger washes over him, turned into chilling shudders. Leo’s heart is racing, the gold starts resembling a galaxy instead of sparse fireflies, a continuous whisper in his head tells him things he doesn’t want to hear.  
  
Elliot remains quiet, but places reassuring hands on Leo’s shoulder. He has no gloves on yet. He’s so warm. “I don’t know.”  
  
The lights suddenly shut down, going back to being fireflies. The silence is deafening.  
  
“But if you want, we can stay home and you can sleep on it.”  
  
Leo gives a choked laugh as he starts tying the ribbon, folding it under the collar. His hands are trembling. “I’ll have time to sleep tomorrow. We truly cannot miss tonight.” He takes two steps back, admiring his handiwork. Elliot stands in the middle of the room, noble and elegant as always. It doesn’t matter who the evening is for, he’d deserve to be the centre of attention. “You look wonderful,” he tells him, smiling “Oz is going to be so happy to see you there.”  
  
Elliot shrugs. “Whatever, it’s my duty as a Nightray to attend this thing” he brushes him off. He looks at him for a moment before fixing his shirt under the coat “I’m sorry.”  
  
Leo shakes his head, going back to him, so close he can feel his breath on his forehead. He straightens the folds of the coat, but Elliot’s skin is so far away, he’s hardly aware that it’s there. “No reason to be.”  
  
“If at any moment tonight you feel like going back, tell me.” he says, looking down at him. Leo doesn’t look back up “Just promise me you will not wander off like an idiot and get lost. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”  
  
Leo grins at the black coat. “I have a gun, Elliot.”  
  
“You are more dangerous to yourself than to others with that.”  
  
“And you are a pedantic blockhead,” Leo retorts, resting his hands on Elliot’s chest, as if to warm himself up. He doesn’t feel his own body heat. “I am just… tired.”  
  
Elliot gives a weak sigh before gently placing his hands on Leo’s shoulder. Without saying a word he slides them down his arms, and Leo feels his blood rushing again under those familiar fingers.  
  
“Okay,” Elliot whispers, hands holding the other’s. “You know you can tell me anything, always.”  
  
Leo has to choke back a hiccup at the sudden chill in his back. The only source of any heat in his body are Elliot’s hands in his own. He feels like a soulless, broken doll. “I know.” Something is deeply wrong, and his head is pounding with that notion, but he has no idea what that is. Maybe he’s just tired.  
  
“Come on, we’ll be late,” he says, letting Elliot go. He turns around, counting the seconds before Elliot’s heat leaves his body again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, let me know if you liked it!


End file.
